It was a great start to the world cup weekend for Jessica Gregg and Michael Gilday. The preliminary races on Friday were handled very well by the two skaters from our team in Calgary who both already have world cup experience.
Jessica Gregg advanced through her two 1000m rounds with some very smart racing and also showed in the 500m event that she is one of the fastest in the world. Michael handled his 1000m rounds with some smart moves and effective passing. He also qualified through the 1 round of 1500m preliminaries with veteran style skating. Gregg & Gilday were both able to enjoy a restful Saturday morning in preparation for the world cup events which only begin at 6pm tonight.
For Jessica Hewitt, her world cup debut was a learning experience. Although skating confident all week during training, her performance in the 1000m and 1500m events fell short of qualifying for the world cup competition. From a coaching point of view, her skating is at world cup level, but her international racing experience is just starting to be developed.
Hewitt entered this morning's 1000m repechage and methodically advanced through each round (4 in total) to qualify for the world cup this evening. She skated each race with more confidence and sharper race strategy execution. She learned very fast and made adjustments equally fast to earn her position with the rest of the team. I believe this is a great example of why the repechage format is effective. Hewitt has taken advantage of this opportunity and her experience already from Salt Lake City will help her to learn more and improve before the weekend is over.
The entire Canadian team is skating very well. Three skaters on the women's team are rookies to the world cup circuit and are showing that they can race at this level. The men's team, with 1 world cup rookie is also skating extremely well. Although a crash yesterday in the 1000m has left Francois-Louis Tremblay with a sore ankle, he still showed his quick speed by qualifying through the 500m preliminaries. Both of Canada's relay teams have qualified for the semi-finals which will be raced at the end of today's events.
It's probably the most beautiful day in Salt Lake City since we arrived. The sky is clear and the view of the mountains is incredible. So why is it that I can't wait to get back inside the Utah Olympic Oval? Oh yeah, to kick some butt.
JC
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